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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - trim clips

hi all,
anyone used them trim clips that hold on the chrome strip down the side.any tips or alternatives as i cannot seem to get them to work. they seem useless to me.
65 midge.
thanks bob
trebor

Do you mean the rivet ones?

If so yes, we used them on our Jubilee, as you say a right pain in the backside. No real tips to be honest other than to take your time, have a steady hand, the right amount of pressure and not to bounce off onto the surrounding paintwork. I thought afterwards that it would be more sensible to tape a blanket or towel around where the clip has to be riveted in to save any potential damage.

When we slid the trim onto the clips it obviously got progressively harder to move the trim when more and more clips were engaged. We ended up putting a fair amount of grease in the valley of the trim to get it on.

The clever boffins ought to engineer a reverse fix method, but then that may be hard to get to in places.

A.
Andrew McGee

I've found that when riveting near paintwork, it helps if you hold the riveter head right next to the paint work between your finger and thumb of your other hand while you squeeze the riveter and as it pops you can control it and it just rebounds into your hand instead of onto your expensive paint job.
When putting on trim, try to get one edge of the trim under the rivet and then give it a smart thump with the heel of your hand. Do them one at a time instead of trying to drag the whole trim along the car.

Bernie.
b higginson

I found that you cannot slide the trim on, but if you fit it all the way along, just by hanging on the lower side of the clip, and then give it a sharp bang with the palm of the hand at each clip, it clips on OK.
Mine did anyway.

Dave
Dave Barrow

Didn't somebody else post a similar question a week or two ago? Maybe there's a new shipment of chinese rubbish that's out of spec...
David Smith

It was Greg in Oz.

His clips were the same size as the ones I have.

I don't know how he got on in the end.
Dave O'Neill2

im thinking of drilling holes slightly bigger and using the fitting that fits on the end of each strip with the nut on, what do you think. ???

bob.
trebor

There's no reason not to, I guess.

I imagine the clips would have been faster to fit on the production line.
Dave O'Neill2

I gave up with the clips and used the fixing plates with nuts. I think the Chinese ones were made out of cream cheese. Think carefully before drilling out holes... you'll need to have access to the back of the panels!
David Cox

Leave the trim off, it'll look nicer without it. Say I, a Sprite owner. :)
Lawrence Slater

Yes it was me. I managed the doors but still haven't been able to get the rear quarter moulds on. I've given up. :( The clips just seem a little too big. What I did find if I break one of the top 'ears' off and gave the clip a very slight twist so the the end with the ear still on was down just a scrap then the trim would fit on. This work for the doors. On the quarters I put the rear stud through and bolted it on. I had it sitting on the clips then taped it on so it wouldn't jump of and scratch the paint. So I was almost there but I couldn't manage the final step of clipping it on. Too hard.

Lawrence what a good idea of leaving it off. Just one minor problem... the holes!!! Not so easy to fill after the car is painted. I also need that mould on for a status symbol to show that it's not a minimilistic Sprite but a fully optioned midget. Mine even had a factory ash tray. ooh, how proud one would have been driving it out of the show room in 69 and then cruising past those bland little Sprites with the sun reflecting of all that chrome bling. How jealous those Sprite owners must have been. :p


Greg H

How proud one would be, cursing at 69(mph), trying to flick the ash into a superflous ash tray. lol.

Sprites never needed bling, or holes to hold it. ;)
Lawrence Slater

That would have been the least of my worries. No need for the ash tray if I can't light it. So without a cigarette lighter in the car I have a bigger and considerably more dangerous challenge ahead of me. I'd have to fumble around in the pocket of my tweed jacket to find my box of matches, then steer the car with my knees while I trying to light it. I don't smoke so not sure how difficult this would be but suspect it could end up a few ways 1. I get that cigarette going without a problem. 2. I run out of matches before I get it lit and have to drop into the nearest pub to bum a light off someone 3. My knees are unable to take the approaching corner at the 69mph I was cruising at and provided I'm still alive I can now light that cigarette because the car's wrapped around a tree and now longer moving. I suspect 1 is unlikely, and as the B roads you're cruising on wouldn't have long straights unlikely too, so 3 the most probable. So to avoid the premature demsie of this lovely little sports car and Darwin's theory resulting in the extinction of the English gentry, ash tray's were no longer an optional extra in England and although serving no value still available on export models to give the pretence that you could actually cruise along having a smoke. Ashtrays... a smart but deceetful marketing ploy of the 60's. :)
Greg H

I always found the ashtray useful for keeping spare rotor arms in.
Dave O'Neill2

This thread was discussed between 30/03/2012 and 31/03/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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